Wednesday, 8 February 2012

So I've always been a "Maybelline Volume Express Colossal Mascara" girl. I think I prefer big mascara brushes, as I'm too lazy to be precise! However after my 3rd tube of the same mascara ran out i decided it was time for a change. Now if you read any beauty blogs or watch any vlogs I'm sure you'll be aware of the ongoing hype over this mascara. I wanted to see whether it really was this miracle mascara!

2 light coats of "They're Real!"

The brush is medium sized, and slightly flexible. However something slightly special about this mascara brush is that it has bristles going around the end of the brush. They do help to de-clump lashes when using the brush horizontally.I'm not gunna lie, I wasn't struck by the wonder of this god send. It is a decent mascara and it does have snazzy packaging (easy to find in your make up bag) It is also my very first purchase from benefit. It does provide you with longer and blacker lashes, however I don't feel it makes lashes appear very full or voluminous. For £18.50 I personally feel it is overpriced and very over rated.Till next time, Beth x

I recently purchased "Luna" by MAC. I tend to use this product on the very top of my cheekbones, brow bone, inner corner of the eye and sometimes my cupids bow as a highlighter. The texture isn't very thick, and i would say is rather greasy. However it isn't so greasy once on the face. I feel that once it sinks in it stays put and provides an attractive natural highlight.I chose the lightest colour (very white, very fine shimmer). This was just due to the fact that i have rather pale skin (I was tempted to purchase "pearl" which is more of a cream colour with gold shimmers, but thought that the white would suit my skin tone more.) Due to it being very light it does reflect the light nicely and I find because there are no large glitter chunks , only extremely fine shimmer it does not look overpowering.

I apologise for the pretty useless swatch.

I have not used this fully as an eye shadow base yet as I feel it may make my eyelids greasy due to the texture of the product. However a base of "UD primer potion" underneath may do the trick.I'm rather useless at contouring my face ( as I'm pretty pale I always feel bronzer makes me look like someone off Geordie shore...) so highlighters are kind of my way out of contouring at the moment, until summer comes around and I have a slight tan again!

"Luna"used lightly on brow bone and very top of cheekbone.

I feel this product does make an excellent highlighter and as it contains 3.2g, and a little goes a long way I think it will last me a substantial amount of time. I prefer to apply this product with my finger, rather than a brush .I think it blends into the skin easier this way, as creams quite often do. This product is £14.50.

Now, I'm not the best at painting nails. I'm definitely not a perfectionist although I wish I was. But i do love a good nail varnish! I purchased China Glaze "Fifth Avenue" quite a long time ago but haven't used it as much as I should of. After rediscovering it hidden amongst dozens of other nail varnishes, I adore it once again. I really feel like it's such a wearable colour. Yet quite girly, but as it's more of a dusty rose pink rather than fluorescent or hot pink, it also appears sophisticated.As China Glaze polishes always are (in my opinion) the quality is tip-top, and a mere 1 coat is all that's needed.I'm not sure if this particular colour is still retailed, but if it is I suggest you grab it quick! It's definitely my favourite at the moment,Beth x

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

I recently purchased from a online make-up company called www.smoochcosmeticsuk.com after seeing a 20% discount code in a magazine. I watched/read a few reviews on the cosmetics before purchasing and liked what i saw! Now that I've received my products i thought it would be fun to do my own review.

The products came individually wrapped in purple tissue paper, with"Smooch" stickers holding it together and beautiful black lace decorating it. Although it is undoubtedly a waste of resources, it did make the products seem that extra bit special and would have been fabulous as a gift .

Once I had carefully removed the outer packaging, the individual tissue paper wrapping, the equally attractive packaging was viewable.

Now I know you shouldn't decide to purchase a product because of the packaging, but I must admit, it did help to persuade me!

As you can see, I purchased 2 lipsticks, a liquid eye liner, compact eye shadow duo and a lip liner.

And once I took them out of that packaging, this is what I was left with. The actual design of the cosmetics is pretty and rather simple. On the whole I do really like it. All products bar the lip liner have a slight rubber feel to them which I'm not quite sure about yet, as it does mean that any other make-up (ie, powder of eye shadows) and fingerprints are quickly visible, and hard to get off.

This lipstick "Pink Fizz" originally £7.50 is a very natural shimmery pink. It's definitely not far off my natural lip colour and is quite sheer. It's very soft and almost melts onto your lips.Pigmentation isn't crazy as it is pretty sheer. But it is of decent quality.I feel it is not a long-lasting lip colour as it is extremely soft and you are aware of it on your lips ( feels hydrating ).

This lipstick is my favourite of the two, called "Prom Punch" and also £7.50. It's a stunning raspberry/ slight plummy colour, also very soft texture but the pigmentation is fabulous. To me, it seems very similar to a mac lipstick. Which for me is a good thing!

As the lipstick is very soft it does seem it could "bleed" quite easily so lip liner in a similar colour would probably do this lipstick justice.

It's been quite a while since i have owned a liquid liner ( I use "blacktrack" gel liner by Mac or "smoulder" a pencil liner also by Mac) but I was very pleasantly surprised by this liner. I'm not very precise when it come to eye liner, and i have a very shakey hand most the time. But the brush on this liner is more "plasticy" that individual hairs. However the "plastic" is flexibly enough to make application easy but still have a lot of precision. The pigmentation is decent, but nothing amazing, for £6.95 I would say it is a worthwhile purchase.

This eye shadow duo in "filthy rich", priced £9.50, comes in the same Slightly rubber textured packaging. I picked these colours which I feel would complement my blue eyes, and these are also the sort of eye shadow tones I am used to working with.

the handy little compact would be good for on-the-go as it also contains a mirror, and these 2 eye shadows can be used on a day to day basis (including using the light shimmer as a highlighter).

I feel like the pigmentation of the lighter colour is better, as it picks up a lot easier. However, it is a rather "thick" eye shadow. the texture clumpy/lumpy, although once blended in, isn't as noticeable. The colour is a very light gold with a lot of shimmer. Whereas the darker colour seems to be slightly harder to pick up, but as a result is less clumpy. the colour is definitely copper, with a lot of underlying orange tones. Also with a lot of shimmer.

Last but not least "Nearly Naked" lip liner. This was £4.95. I sort of regret the colour I chose as it is rather boring. But hey ho, it is supposed to be a nude, so I got what I asked for.

One thing that really made me want to purchase a lip liner from Smooch Cosmetics was the the fact that on one end , you have your pencil liner, and on the other you have a lip brush!

I have yet to test out the lip brush as i've never really had a decent lip brush before i'm not the best tester of this part of the product. I tend to just attempt to apply my lipstick as neat as possible free hand. But, it's great of them to include a lip brush, especially for £4.95!

The lip liner is undoubtedly a nude colour, possibly slightly dull for complementing my complexion. But it does seem like it will last, and gives good pigmentation. The product applies easily and smoothly. As it is soft I feel if it was used frequently it would need a sharpener near! I wouldn't recommend wearing it on it's own myself, I feel it would look good as a base for a nude lipstick with pink tones and some gloss. I'll definitely be trying this out :)

Over all I am very happy with my purchase and am always happy to try out new/different brands, especially when for once they're from the UK! ( and they have 20% off)If you got this far, then well done! It was a long review. Thank you for taking time to read, till next time;Beth x